The Drayden Chronicles

This is an excerpt from a story I've been working on for almost two years now. This is just the beginning of book one. I'm currently working on book two...
When I look at this, I feel the classic Good Versus Evil battle that happens within everyone's minds; only amplified. Amplified to a very high extreme. It challenges my thought process in why people do the things they do. I love psychology because of this principle. The Beast represents all that is negative in one's life. In my case, it's my dad. The negativity seeps into your mind and slowly drives you insane.

This story takes place in modern times, with a suicidal Immortal as the main character. I did not know which area to classify this in, but since it switches often to flashbacks of the nearly-700-year-old's childhood, I classified it here. I am making this into a web comic at the moment, but the web comic is based off of the old version. So I have to restart it. This is part of my revised version.

The Drayden Chronicles-- Part One

As the sky turned an ashen gray of an impending thunder storm, the old forest fell silent; the birds stopped their songs and the distant rumble of thunder echoed heavily between the trees. The great pines danced clumsily as the wind grew in strength. Soon, the black clouds in the distance loomed overhead, and the rain began to fall. The gentle shower grew to a roar of water hitting the ground, each drop a small explosion into the earth. Soon enough, small streams formed to carry the newly-fallen rain downhill into the river. The river where a young deer writhed in agony as he tried to escape his predator. After a while of struggling against the beast’s tight grip dragging him under the waves, the beast finally sank his teeth into the deer’s neck, and a sickening “pop” echoed through the water. The stag’s eyes glossed over in weakness, and his body fell limp. Drayden dragged the carcass onto the shore, and threw it onto the stones. Blood seeped from the wounds on the deer’s neck, falling onto the rocks, sliding between them. Drayden sighed and knelt, his pants sinking into the stones slightly.

Drayden’s teeth began to stir within their sockets, and he opened his mouth. The sharp, shark-like teeth moved back and forth, as if dancing. He had four rows of these teeth within his jaw, teeth that hurt him sometimes if he wasn’t careful. Since the beast took his body so many years ago, he didn’t dare leave the forest-- Not even for human company. He was afraid he’d hurt someone. Drayden leaned down and began to tear at the deer’s hide, desperate for the meat underneath.

He tore at the raw meat like a ravenous wolf, not caring for the beast’s protests within his mind. His beast was a parasite. A parasite stuck to his brain and yearned for control of his body. It waited till he was weak-- like sleeping or injured-- to take over and wreak havoc. And so Drayden rarely did sleep, so as to keep the beast at bay with all of his mind and soul.

"Boy! Don’t ignore me!! I still have the power to reverse your stomach!" It’s raspy, shrieking voice filled Drayden’s ears.

Drayden kept eating. Studdenly, his stomach rumbled and he vomited hard, he doubled over leaned over his kill, spilling his stomach contents onto it. He didn’t have enough time to move.

"I told you!! I will only allow you to eat HUMAN MEAT! You know it tastes better!! How long have we been fighting like this!!"

“I have lost count, you blasted demon.” Drayden spoke in his native tongue; Spanish, and let it roll from his lips. At this, Drayden’s left arm moved on it’s own, clenching a fist, and punched him hard in the face. His teeth cut into the inside of his cheek, and he instantly tasted blood. But as quickly as he tasted it, the cut healed itself. And the taste disappeared. Drayden forced himself to sit up and continue to eat the carcass. He didn’t care if he just vomited on it, he was hungry. So hungry.

"You little brat..." It hissed. "I give you two simple tasks; to keep count of how many years I have lived within you, and to let me eat as many people as I wish!"

“Leave me alone!!” Drayden begged. “Please!! Just let me eat!!” At this, the beast smiled within his head and laughed.

"You fool. You Rancorous swine. I have so kindly given you eternal life! Isn’t that what you traveled from Spain for? That Fountain of Immortality? Well, well, my boy, you have found it! I am a great gift to you! You are a lucky boy to be the only immortal on this great world of ours."

“At the cost of my sister, and forced into cannibalism, and to be alone for all of time!!” Drayden screamed, his voice almost drowned out by a loud crack of thunder. He staggered to his feet, and stumbled back into the river. He collapsed into the waves, sinking to the bottom like a heavy stone.

"Boy! Don’t even try to drown yourself now! Once you lose consciousness I’ll simply take control of your body and take you back to shore!"

"I want to die…" Drayden thought. "I want to die, just once. I want to die and be with Constance once again. My dearly beloved sister…"

Drayden jammed his eyes shut to try and block out the beast’s continued protests. His toes gripped at the pebbles lining the bottom of the river, as if he were a plant gripping vainly to nothing. He flowed along with the current, and muffled thunder surged through the dark silence of the river. "Stop this foolishness, Boy! I tire of your insolence!" He slowly opened his eyes, and let himself be one with the current. He felt his body sway to and fro with the gentle bends in the river. He focused on the cool water against his hot skin, and how it sent goose pimples up his arms and legs. He let himself float upwards , releasing the last bit of air from his lungs. Suddenly his arms and legs sprung to life, and the beast forcibly made him swim to shore.

"Foolish, Foolish boy..."

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